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Jesus is greater than everything.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Thanksgiving

I wish I were more sensitive. When it comes to times that I need to man up, I very literally travel back in time and become a baby. However, when it’s time for me to have an empathetic and caring heart, I become selfish and cold. Nice.

Having established that previous fact, I can honestly say that I have no idea where the inspiration for this post comes from. I realize that God is the only one who should receive thanks, for from Him, to Him, and through Him. Therefore, He is the only one who deserves any ultimate glory. In the meantime, God works through broken vessels.

It’s Thanksgiving week, and I’m not going home. I have really mixed feelings about that. I’m glad to be here in the Frozen North, but I really love my family. I’ve talked to both my dad and my mom more in the last two weeks than probably most of this semester. Major blessing. I feel like God is pouring a kind of thankfulness that only He can give on my spirit right now, and because I can’t share it with anyone at home in an immediate way, I want to do it here.

Here’s the Biblical justification for the next few hundred words :)

"I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence, for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give recognition to such people."
(1 Corinthians 16:17-18 ESV)

I will probably forget very important people to me, but these are the people that God has put on my heart to thank personally for serving me in the last year, so if I didn’t include you, I’m sorry!

Thank you Mr. Smith for being my pastor. I see evidences of grace in your life as I was often late to our meetings and also made such preposterous statements that you just went with and even humored such superfluity at times. It also means a lot to me that you have been so willing to take time to respond to emails and blog posts and things that I realize you don’t have a ton of time for otherwise. Thank you.

Thank you Scott for being a mentor to me and listening to me ask questions that are literally impossible to answer, but doing your best to think through things with me to the best that you can. Thank you.

Thank you Jeff and Widdy for being really gracious host parents to me over the last few months. You both have been so patient and gracious with me as I mess up laundry, miss appointments, lose keys, etc. I am so grateful to God that I am here now learning from and living with you. I love doing things with your boys and I am really looking forward to the things that God has in store in the next few months. So far nothing has been really easy, but He’s been really good and having your house as God’s base of operation in my life has been a divine blessing. Thank you.

Thank you Dale for easily being my best friend pretty much all of 2nd semester freshman year. You know all the stuff I was dealing with and you cared enough about me seeing Jesus for as supremely satisfying over all things. In doing so, I believe that God used your love for me in the process in saving my soul. I love you so much bro. Thank you.

Thank you Kevin for not avoiding the uncomfortable and spending inordinate amounts of time with me, teaching me how to study the Word and spending that time in the basement working on reading the Bible like I actually believe what it’s saying. Thank you.

Thank you Ryan G. for listening to me interrupt, ask inane questions (whose answer was found in thinking about the question for about 5 more seconds), and give counsel that was just hard counsel. I think back to that conversation in your SUV sitting in the loading bay for Hope Academy having one of the more sobering conversations anyone has had with me in a long time. God used that conversation to change my life. Thank you.

Thanks Amanda G. for chillen and hanging out that day before I left for school this summer. It’s sweet to hit it off right away with people and not have to work a ton at the friendship for it happen. Thank you.

Thank you Dan Stanley for being there for me- forcing me to make that phone call, and being by my side when I was laying in the hospital bed doing my best to subvert the authority of those who instructed me to lay still. Easily two of the most traumatic experiences of the semester. I’m glad we finally became friends. I really respect you, and I’m glad that you have pushed me to do the uncomfortable for the sake of becoming a Man of character and integrity. Thank you.

Thank you Mark for being a friend to me even when the extent of our relationship consisted of you picking me up and dropping me off at different places. I’m glad we have a more amicable relationship now where we actually hang out now and do more things that friends do together. Also, thank you for letting me go on and on bout my problems and I just need to talk. You always listen. Thank you.

Thank you Kyle for being my intellectual sparring partner for the last 6 months. More than that however, I have learned more in my relationship with you in regards to the importance of “Reformed” theology as relates to the importance of Gospel-centrality. I love our talks (and disagreements) about how we se Biblical truth, but more so, I love the moments of total one-mindedness around the undying power of the Gospel and its importance in everything. I praise God that He has taught me so much through you. Thank you.

Thank you Savannah for being the friend I wish I always had! You consistently read my blog posts and respond to my really stupid tweets and text messages. I have no idea why. What will happen is I will tweet or text you something and I’ll think to myself, “I can’t believe that I just sent something again to her that should be disregarded as completely meaningless and really dumb.” But, of course, you’ll either humor my insanity, or say something that makes me thankful for people that see things more clearly than I do. Thank you!

Thank you Dan Soukup for listening to me babble on about nothing at all. It has probably been days that I have talked about frivolous foolishness, and you have actually laughed. Wow. Thank you also for listening to the actual stuff that is going on in my life and genuinely seeming to care. Whether you do or not, I have no idea (but I know you do though). It is for that that I am so grateful. I see such a spirit of patience and servant-heartedness in you that I want to emulate. I also love that when I get all hortative you and your cool mind objectively process what I have said and will frequently say things like (not specifically), "David, that was dumb. Don't say that again." If I didn't have men like you in my life, just think about the heresy I would spurt! (Gross mental picture, I know). Thank you, sir.

Thank you Dave for being in many ways the big brother I never had. Particularly in high school, but now as I think for myself, I enjoy the depths of some of our conversations, the vapidity of many jocular conversations, and the mind-stretching quality of many of our disagreements. God has used you and your life and influence to bring things about in my life that wouldn't have otherwise been made known to me. Thank you.

Thank you Paul for being one of the best listeners I've ever met. I leave nearly every conversation thinking to myself, "This guy really seems to care about me." I can never understand why, except for the fact that you are a godly and grace-filled man who puts himself last for the sake of serving others. I love hanging out and learning from your example. Thank you.

Thank you Shelly for being the big sister I never had. I’m seriously so thankful that we met when we did. I can definitely say that from the beginning our friendship has been just a little different. I can also say with a clear conscious and an honest heart that your example has taught me more about life in the last 12 months than anyone else I know. I realize that I am prone to exaggeration, but I mean that honestly. I really respect you and I respect the way that you have responded to God’s call in your life which has played itself out in very tough situations. Also, I am SO glad you’re getting married! I can’t wait to have honorary nephews and nieces running around soon! Thank you for being you :)

Thank you Joey for being my man this summer. When I needed someone to lift me up, you were there and I love you for that. It’s taken about 15 years to get to this point, but that’s ok with me. Through you, God has brought different things in my life to show me how much I need to depend on the Gospel because if I tried to depend on who I think I am, I am in serious trouble. Thanks bro.

Thank you Ryan T. for letting me lead worship with you when it has worked out. Aside from the actual worship-leading technical stuff I learn from you, I am really thankful that God is revealing Himself to you and affecting your life in a way that spills out to others. Thank you for coaching my voice; not only do I learn the things that you teach me, but I learn from the way that you teach. I am thankful for your graciousness and willingness to move as the Spirit leads. Last but not least, thank you for letting me join your small group. I’m looking forward to it so much! Thank you.

Lastly but certainly not least, tha fam.

Thank you Philip and Matthew for being so patient and gracious with me all these years. After visiting home a few weeks ago, I realized how much I really do love just chilling out and singing or just laying on the couch making jokes with yous. I’m really glad to see that you are both growing up and not letting me push you around so much anymore. Being the 3rd tallest in the family is such a fun challenge. You would probably never know what that’s like though…

Thank you Mom for many things. One of those things is signing me up for cello lessons, driving me all over tarnation for a good teacher, buying me a cello, and paying for me to fly with it across the country. Especially as I've been writing and recording more music, I've been increasingly thankful for the ability to play cello, however advanced or not advanced it is. Not that they were all bad years, but there were certainly a few seasons of less-than-optimal times; but you stuck with it, and one of the fruits of your patience is the fact that I simply love my instrument.
On a more clearly eternal note, thank you for being one of the clearer pictures of Jesus in my life as far as balancing your convictions of truth with patience and grace in your dealing with other people. I’ve been thankful to be much more connected to things that have been going on this semester by having the opportunity to talk more and listen to the things that all y’all are dealing with and working through. When I see the conflict and the lack of resolution, I thank God that He has given me such godly parents. Thank you for your example, I love you guys.

Thank you Dad for being my best friend through the “ups and downs” of these discerning times. I’m so glad to have parents that are totally sold out for Jesus and are doing whatever they possibly can to further His kingdom through living an affected life and proclamation of the wondrous power of the Gospel. I see that in a big picture way over the last 8 or so months, God has changed specifically your heart to be even more gracious and humble regarding the things that go on in life and whatnot. Even though things haven’t been terribly easy at times, I would love to do the things and be a part of the things that your (sic) doing now and I would similarly love to have the grace that God is pouring into your life. Thank you for being a man that I can imitate in the ways that you imitate Christ. Thank you.

.DSN.

1 comment:

  1. Thank you, David, for the kind words, not only to me, but to all the people who have been a part of your life this year. I am very thankful for the part you have played in my life. I have learned about God's love, mercy, grace and forgiveness in a deeper way because of our relationship. I could never have learned these things in any other way, and I am very grateful for how I am seeing Jesus because of you. I am so happy, also, for you to be developing a living relationship with the Lord, and to be learning to see Him as soul-satisfying as He is. He is the Lover of your soul! I know I have a long way to go, but it's nice to be on the journey together. Looking forward to having you around for Christmas! Love, Mom

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